Driver training simulators are well known. For example see U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,266,173 (Sheridan) and 2,935,794 (Durham). Such simulators normally have a student driver station and a visual display system. The student driver station simulates the controls in a normal vehicle and the visual display system presents images to the student by means of either a video display or a motion picture projector. A series of images are presented to the student simulating the view that a driver would see and the student is asked to operate the controls in the student driver station in response to the images that are presented.
One of the items of concern in the design of driver training simulators is the problem of providing the student with rear view images, that is, images representing or showing what is behind the simulated vehicle. Several techniques are known for providing the student with such rear view images.
In one technique for providing the student with simulated rear view images, the camera which records the forward view is positioned such that its field of view includes an image of what appears in a normal center mounted rear view mirror. Thus, the image presented to the student driver includes an image of what appears in the rear view mirror. This technique can only be effectively used to simulate the view that a driver would see in a center mounted rear view mirror. It can not effectively be used to simulate the view which appears in mirrors placed outside the vehicle's cab such as those normally used in trucks. Among the reasons for this is the fact that the conventional cameras (even if they include an anamorphic lens) do not have a wide enough field of view such that they can simultaneously capture both the front image and the image in two widely separated rear view mirrors.
In another technique for providing the student with a simulated rear view image, a mirror is placed behind the student station. At appropriate times the student is asked to turn his head and look into this mirror. The mirror is positioned so that it gives the student a view of the screen and after the student is asked to turn and lood into the mirror, a reverse image of what is behind the vehicle is projected on the screen. When looking in the mirror the student is therefore given the impression that he is seeing the view that he would see in an actual vehicle if he turned his head to look in a rearward direction. This technique has the disadvantages that (a) the student must be told when to turn his head and (b) there is a period of disorientation when the image on the screen is changed from a front view to a "reverse" image of what the student would see in an actual vehicle if he turned his head. Furthermore, in simulators for large trucks, the driver normally does not observe what is behind the truck by turning his head. In a large truck, the driver normally observes what is behind the truck by looking into large mirrors that are positioned outside the truck cab.